port town and borough (district), administrative and historic county of Hampshire, England. It lies on a peninsula between Portsmouth Harbour and The Solent, opposite the Isle of Wight. Gosport prospered from the 16th century with the rising importance of the Royal Navy. Primarily a victualing station, it flourished in the Napoleonic Wars and later shared in the naval development of Portsmouth. It was a major embarkation area for the Allied invasion of France in 1944 and suffered considerable air bombardment. Area 10 square miles (25 square km). Pop. (2001) 69,384.